The Audit Commission - Essay Example

The Audit Commission Introduction The case study on The Audit Commission discusses about their adoption of flexible working patterns, benefits and setback of the flexible working system. The people at the Audit commission work with a common mission of improving the quality of the public services for the betterment of the people. The Audit commission has two different stream of audit work which the people are employed in to, first the inspection of accounts and second is checking the quality and competence of the services. The teams are well oriented towards their goal of improving the services of the public sector. There are different job functions with the audit commission namely the Audit family, Performance audit family and Functional family, working towards the same goal of improving the public services. The Audit commission follows different work patterns which would vary according to the job role and preference of the employee. There is a flexible working pattern adopted by the Audit commission which involves numerical flexibility, functional flexibility and place of work flexibility. This pattern was adopted to benefit both the organization and the employees. The numerical flexibility is adopted to balance the fluctuating word loads of the organization where there is increase or decrease in the size of the employees. The functional flexibility is where the employees are trained on various skills to serve different job functions so that they can be shuffled between various tasks during the time of needs. The place of work flexibility will help employees strike a balance between work and life and also it reduces the cost of the company incurred on the infrastructure and optimizes the use of resources Main objective of any organization is to use the availability of resources effectively and complete the work in the given time line. Irrespective of the work location or a function, a committed employee works effectively to give desired results. Building trust with an employee and giving him responsibilities will enhance his efficiency and also makes his responsible. The leader in organizations makes a lot of difference. There must be a healthy relationship at work which will motivate the employees and as a result produce better results. The Audit Commission follows the autocratic to a democratic model by Tannenbaum and Schmidt which states that the leader must be authoritative at the same time provide freedom to the employees. The Audit commission is a friendly work atmosphere and has a good work tempo. The availability of the option to work from home shows the efficiency in the leadership of The Audit Commission. There is clear demonstration of trust between the employer and the employees of the organization. The consideration of employees need and adopting a flexible work pattern by The Audit Commission has encouraged and motivated the employees to work even effectively towards the common mission. Leadership and Team Dynamics: The flexible working pattern requires a high degree of trust with an employee to perform the delegated duties .There must be a good working relationship between the leader and the employee. The Audit Commission has teams which haves high level of individual responsibilities and work according to their current requirements. Trust is the major factor that The Audit Commission has considered for choosing the flexible working pattern. They also follow a high relation and high task approach, where the need, penchant, skills and expertise of the employees are considered prime and are delegated and negotiated according to the employees. The Audit commission has considered the efficiency of their leaders in proceeding towards following the flexible working pattern. They also follow the democratic model by Tannenbaum and Schmidt where the leaders are authoritative and also friendly to the employees. They also have strong belief in their employees and their team dynamics. There is a natural force that is prevailing and that keeps the team dynamics high. It increases the commitment of the employees towards their task resulting in an improvement in productivity. The Audit Commission has considered its supportive and entrusted leadership where they provide continuous support to employees, trust them for quality work and provide the freedom required. The Audit commission must have considered the team dynamics prevailing in the system with in their approach to flexible working patterns. The Audit Commission has communicated its core mission clearly to the employees while considering the flexible working patterns. The Audit commission has considered their honest, supportive and informative leaders who have clear visions and seek continuous learning. A flexible working pattern must have strong team dynamics which will keep them motivated. There is a continuous communication between the team members and leader which will increase productivity and give quality results. When working from home, the employee has better chances to prove, as he can be creativity with his work, he can make decisions and can win the trust of the organization. The employees when given flexibility, they are loyal and co-operative. This opportunity treats all employees equal. The Audit Commission considers the synergy of the team and has depended on the positive energy of the employees. Being very particular at choosing the team makes a difference. Team dynamics is the value that each team member creates and it enhances their commitment towards the work. When considering the flexible work pattern, The Audit Commission would have relied completely on the leader and the team dynamics. The leaders make the organization; they are the prime factor between the organization and the employees. To follow a flexible working pattern the leader must be sure of each team members in the team and know is core strength and weakness. When selecting an employee for a functional flexile team, the leader has to make sure, if the employee is capable of learning and working on multiple tasks. When considering an employee for a work of place flexibility, the leader must be sure that the employee is reliable and self accountable for his task. Situational and distributive team leadership is very essential for the flexible work pattern, where a variety of leadership is required to respond to the changing wants of the organization. When working on flexible patterns, every employee is a leader himself. There is an equal responsibility lying with each individual to take the organization towards success. The Audit commission relied completely on their employees, leader and the team dynamics prevailing in the system to adopt the Flexible working patter. Employee Motivation: The flexibility in the working pattern improves the lifestyle of the individuals. Encouraging part time, flexible time work patterns and job sharing systems have given better results for the employees and also for the employers. The Audit Commission motivates it employees and thus has given preference to the employees‘needs. Considering the employees’ needs and giving them respect will be one of the major motivational factor. The audit commission follows different type of flexibilities; this in turn motivates the employees to a larger extent. The functional flexibility will educate an employee with various skills and hence it improves his commitment with the organization. The employee builds a trust with the organization and he feels secure with his job. Job security is one of the major factors of motivation. When an employee improves his knowledge in various fields and wins the trust of the organization, he tends to grow with the organization. It provides respect and equality to all the individuals in the organization which is another motivational factor. The Audit commission considers the employees needs to balance work and life and hence has adopted the work place flexibility. There are two types of flexible working with the Audit commission; they are occasional home working and regular home working. Occasional home working is when an employee has the need to stay at home at times and still can work; it allows the employee to complete both his responsibilities. When considering a women employee who has to take care of her sick child at home, she gets an opportunity to take care of the child and also complete the work from home. This facility would motivate the women employee. Recognition is another major factor that motivates the employees. Giving better and equal opportunity to employees will motivate them. Inadequate holidays and extended hours at work is a major factor that decreases the motivation of employees. Rewarding an employee accordingly and recognizing them will motivate any employee. As mentioned n the Maslow’s motivational theory, there are various needs of a person which when fulfilled keeps him motivated. Self-actualizations, Self-esteem and Social need, at every stage when the needs are satisfied, people get motivated. Similarly The Audit Commission takes care of its employees need to balance their work and life. There must be an inclusive pattern of working style which must be followed; it motivates the employee to work for the organization even sincerely. A motivated employee is even more productive and is self reliant. The flexible working pattern over all improves the life style of individuals and hence it is the major factor that motivates the employees. The flexible working pattern is a win-win scenario. Flexible work pattern improves the use of technology to better extent. This flexible working pattern also gives more job opportunities due to their different and flexible working hours. It attracts people of the right interests. It increases the respect for the company overall. There is also job security with this option. It certainly reflects the respect it has for its employees. Employees willingly take up more accountability, and give constant co operation to the team and organization. Motivated people give consistent results. It is the duty of the employee to keep their employees motivated. Similarly The Audit Commission keeps their employees motivated by providing them the option of flexible working pattern. Conflict Situations: Every organization has conflicts; there is no organization which does not have people of different ideas. The Audit Commission would have certainly faced conflicts while applying the flexible working pattern. The major factors for the conflicts could be people from different ideas and people with different expectations. There must be a proper communication between all the employees of a system, when following a flexible working pattern; it is very difficult to maintain a good level of communication with in the employees. It becomes difficult to keep all the employees informed about al the activities happening at the system. When working in a team, it is also important to have good team dynamics. When working from home, there are very less chances of the members interacting. The team interaction is an important aspect for good team dynamics. There are also flexible timings where employees work in different timings from others, which also have difficulty in maintaining the team dynamics. There are certain times that the flexible home working system hinders the family life; it brings the work pressure home. When given an option to work from home, most of the employees would ne willing to take it up. When an employee does not get the approval for home working, it might bring down his interest with the organization. People tend to learn more when mingling with the crowd and meting different people at work, while following flexible working pattern, there are chances of feeling secluded and lonely. The flexile working pattern might bring down the wages of the employees if they work less hours. There might be a delay or barrier to promotion, which will de-motivate the employees. When an employee works from home, it is difficult to measure the work performed, there is no much possibility of keeping the employee motivated. The difference in the wages might brig up more umber of conflicts with in the organization. The employees might miss the continuous support offered by the leaders. The Audit Commission might have to keep a constant watch on the communication level with its employees to solve the conflict situations. There is a lot of confidential information that the commission is supposed to handle, it has to make sure that the employee does not store those confidential information and mis use them. Employees might not be happy with their goals; there might be differences in opinion. Hence The Audit Commission must look into all these aspects of conflicts for better functioning of the system. Conclusion: The Audit Commission by adopting the flexible working pattern has created a win- win scenario for the employees and for its self. The flexible working pattern requires high amount of trust. There must be efficient leaders to handle the flexible working pattern. The situational and distributive leadership has been followed to spread the responsibility amongst each and every employee to perform their task on their own. There I a high level of motivation from the organization to the employees which is exhibited through various factors like considering the need of the employees, recognizing them, respecting the employees. The employees are well informed about their mission and their goal of improving the services of the public sectors. When the employees are grouped under different function ad specialization, they tend to work effectively. Multi tasking offered by the audit commission to its employees increases their efficiency. By adopting the flexible working pattern, The Audit Commission also gains by optimizing their resources and cutting down on the cost of the infrastructure. There is a democratic model in the organization, where the employees are given freedom at the same time monitored for their work. The audit Commission has an inclusive work pattern, where it includes all the employees of the organization and hence providing them an equal opportunity. They are supportive leaders, who are always available for assistance and also maintain good communication between the team. There is a good team dynamics prevailing in The Audit Commission. The employees of the organization are well motivated; they are given preference and respect. There is job security with the organization which is the most important factor of motivation. In spite of having all the positive aspects, The Audit Commission must concentrate on the conflicts and must work towards the betterment of the employees and the organization. When following the flexible working patterns, the commission must consider a high level of communication among the team members and the leaders. There might be employees with different ideas and expectations, the commission must look at considering all the ideas and bringing a solution to the problem. Recommendation: The flexile work pattern must aim at providing a good balance between work and life. It should help employees improve their standard of living. It must assure that the pressure from work does not affect the routine family life. There must be a good job sharing policy. The Audit Commission must aim at arranging meeting once in a week so that the members of the group get to meet each other and also share their work and innovations along with their difficulties. There must be continuous training sessions once intwo months to enhance their qualities ad abilities. Concentrating on multi skilled employees will be a benefit for the organization and also the employees, there must be good recognition programs conducted by The Audit Commission and it should is at creating more leaders for their organization. Reference Audit Commission website – home - about http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/aboutus/Pages/default.aspx Times 100 Edition 13 website - Case Studies – Audit Commission http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/downloads/audit/audit_13_full.pdf Read More